100 ARCHIVES

Domesday Book

IMG NOT FOUND
British History

Hemsworth in the Domesday Book (1086)

Hemsworth appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Staincross in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Hemsworth at 1.3 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Hemsworth supported a recorded population of 9 smallholders, 2 slaves, working 2 ploughs between them.

The numbers record a sharp fall. Before 1066, Hemsworth was worth 2 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 1.5 shillings – a fall of 25%. Most Yorkshire villages that lost value on this scale were swept up in the Harrying of the North – William’s scorched-earth campaign of 1069–70.

REF-24 Read Record →
IMG NOT FOUND
British History

Hepworth in the Domesday Book (1086)

Hepworth appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Agbrigg in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Hepworth at 2.2 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Hepworth supported a recorded population of 10 villagers, 1 smallholder, 8 freemanmen, working 3 ploughs between them.

The survey records Hepworth’s value at 19d in 1086. No pre-Conquest figure survives – not unusual in the North, where records were disrupted by the Harrying and by the patchy coverage of the survey.

REF-24 Read Record →
IMG NOT FOUND
British History

Herdebi in the Domesday Book (1086)

The settlement of Herdebi is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Morleystone in Derbyshire. The survey assessed Herdebi at 1.2 carucates of taxable land.

Most significantly, Herdebi is recorded as waste in 1086 — land rendered uninhabitable and valueless. Before the Conquest, the settlement had been assessed at 5 shillings; by 1086 that value had collapsed entirely. This pattern — prosperity before 1066, devastation by 1086 — is the unmistakable signature of the Harrying of the North, William I’s campaign of systematic destruction across Yorkshire in 1069–70.

REF-24 Read Record →